y, a half -million American lives were saved by his decision to drop the atomic bomb. Truman was not the only leader who made such a claim. General Groves estimated that close to a million American would of died.(ONeal 33) Truman saved American lives by putting the war to a hasty end.(ONeal 30) By using the atomic bomb and not the invasion plans to save close to 500,000 lives(Takaki 28) leaves no question in mind on why the atomic bomb was used instead of the two invasion plans.To American marines sitting on ships waiting for the start of an invasionof Japan the atomic bomb may have come as a kind of blessing. They knewthat although many lives were lost in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,more lives had been lost in some of the conventional battles. . .(ONeal 36)When the decision was made to use the atomic bomb over the two plans of land invasion it was the best decision. Wartime leaders plan military operationsthat will achieve their goal at the lowest possible cost in lives.(ONeal 36)The atomic bomb was used only to end the war. Truman believed that Russia could prove to be a great ally as he states, Yet Russia as a powerful wartime ally,could not be left completely in the dark.(Blow 90)Truman did not use the atomic bomb to show Russia that the United States was a power, but wanted the Russians to become allies and because of this they could not be left completely in the dark regarding Americas plans for putting the war to an end. The sole purpose of the atomic bomb was to help put an end to the war .The atomic bomb was used in shocking the Japanese into surrendering and as a way of ending the war that would claim the fewest civilian lives(ONeal 71) and that had nothing to do with the Russians it had to do with saving lives.The Japanese had many opportunities to surrender but never took advantage of them. The factions in the government and military that opposed surrender on any terms remained just powerful enou...
